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Original poster

How to interpret gov stats comparing secondary schools? Attainment, avg point scores, etc

29 replies

ParentOfOne · 19/05/2025 11:44

Can you please help me understand how to interpret the government stats at
https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/
to compare secondary schools?

  • Progress 8 score: this is a measure of how much kids improve, right? So a fully or partially selective school may well show a lower score than a comp in a deprived area, simply because their kids started from a higher level?
  • Entering Ebacc: there is a school with only 20%. What does it mean? That 80% of their students don't do the GCSE at all? That 80% drop out?
  • Attainment 8: These are measures of how well kids do at the GCSEs? But what are the differences between "attainment 8", "grade 5 or above" and "Ebacc avg point score"? The last one can probably be skewed by schools promoting 'easier' subjects, but is "grade 5 or above" the % of kids who pass their GCSE in English and maths? I see schools with 30% here, and that sounds worrying.

Is it fair to say that for an academic child attainment scores are more important than progress, and viceversa for a less academic child?

But maybe non-selective schools which use seats or streams can have low overall results while still having sets or streams of highly performing pupils?

For context, we already know which schools are our top priority, but we would probably want to choose a safe option as 6th choice, just in case we can't get into any of the other 5. State schools only. So this is basically about choosing the "least worst" among schools which are either undersubscribed or less oversubscribed than most (which is typically for a reason).

Of course, I understand that metrics can be distorted.
School can push up their results by offrolling disruptive students, by limiting their GCSE options, by being partially selective with specialism tests, etc, so everything has to be taken with a truckload of salt.

Thanks!

Search for schools, colleges and multi-academy trusts - Compare school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK

You can find schools and colleges in your area. You can also view exam and test results, financial details and Ofsted reports.

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk

OP posts:
Mloop · 19/05/2025 12:19

wtftodo · 19/05/2025 12:14

Progress 8 is the "value added" score which is calculated for each child, and then averaged for that cohort, with a margin for "confidence" (error, really) adjusted for demographics (other posters have explained it better than I on other threads! It is imo the most valuable metric as it shows you how well particular kids have achieved at this specific school compared to how they would have been expected to perform, nationally. Selective schools etc can also get excellent progress 8 so don't believe the hype that some posters claim that the only good p8 scores are in "poor" schools.
In reality, P8 can vary from year to year, it can also hide some questionable curriculum choices, and as long as it isn't consistently negative I wouldn't worry too much. It is worth looking by demographic though ie a school with an excellent P8 may in fact not have a good p8 for prior-high-attauining or low attaining or disabled children etc.

Entering Ebacc is how many specifically did maths, english, science, a language and history/geography. Brought in by the last government but in itself doesn't mean much. At best it's a soft marker for "we want to attract middle class parents".

Attainment 8 is the ave score across specific GCSEs, I can't remember which and I think it includes double weighting for maths and english but you can check on the compareschoolperformace site.

For my children, who are a mix of academic, competitive, sensitive and neurodiverse, I am looking for a good or ok P8 for all groups (especially high attainers but also all other groups as I believe that indicates an inclusive and ambitious school. Attainment 8 part of the picture but not a huge part.

Our school does not stream kids except for maths yet has a stronger p8 and attainment 8 than other local schools which do. It does have q good ebacc but that's partly because it's a larger school with more language provision.

I agree with this. Look at the P8 for different levels of attainment, girls/boys, FSM. If P8 is positive across the board it suggests to me that the school has a culture of high expectations for everyone and good teachers.

wtftodo · 19/05/2025 12:14

Progress 8 is the "value added" score which is calculated for each child, and then averaged for that cohort, with a margin for "confidence" (error, really) adjusted for demographics (other posters have explained it better than I on other threads! It is imo the most valuable metric as it shows you how well particular kids have achieved at this specific school compared to how they would have been expected to perform, nationally. Selective schools etc can also get excellent progress 8 so don't believe the hype that some posters claim that the only good p8 scores are in "poor" schools.
In reality, P8 can vary from year to year, it can also hide some questionable curriculum choices, and as long as it isn't consistently negative I wouldn't worry too much. It is worth looking by demographic though ie a school with an excellent P8 may in fact not have a good p8 for prior-high-attauining or low attaining or disabled children etc.

Entering Ebacc is how many specifically did maths, english, science, a language and history/geography. Brought in by the last government but in itself doesn't mean much. At best it's a soft marker for "we want to attract middle class parents".

Attainment 8 is the ave score across specific GCSEs, I can't remember which and I think it includes double weighting for maths and english but you can check on the compareschoolperformace site.

For my children, who are a mix of academic, competitive, sensitive and neurodiverse, I am looking for a good or ok P8 for all groups (especially high attainers but also all other groups as I believe that indicates an inclusive and ambitious school. Attainment 8 part of the picture but not a huge part.

Our school does not stream kids except for maths yet has a stronger p8 and attainment 8 than other local schools which do. It does have q good ebacc but that's partly because it's a larger school with more language provision.

Original poster
ParentOfOne · 19/05/2025 12:14

Are English, maths and science the only compulsory subjects at GCSE?

So "entering Ebacc" < 100% means that some students did English, maths and science (which are compulsory) but not a language and either history or geography (which are the other subjects required for Ebacc)?

Do you interpret a low "Entering Ebacc" as a sign that most children are not very academic?

By contrast, is it fair to say that a low "Entering Ebacc" but high attainment scores could simply mean that most students did well because they chose easier subjects?

OP posts:
TeenToTwenties · 19/05/2025 12:06

Entering EBacc is easy to cover.

Some schools force (almost) everyone to do the subjects to meet EBacc, so as well as maths, science and English also one of History/Geography AND a foreign language (plus other things).

Other schools don't mandate this and let kids have ore choice outside of the core maths science & English.

Otherwise, you can filter on previous attainment for Progress and Attainment 8.